As is known, there are a variety of types of magnetic field sensing elements, including, but not limited to, Hall Effect elements, magnetoresistance elements, and magnetotransistors. As is also known, there are different types of Hall Effect elements, for example, planar Hall elements, vertical Hall elements, and circular vertical Hall elements (CVH). As is also known, there are different types of magnetoresistance elements, for example, anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) elements, giant magnetoresistance (GMR) elements, tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) elements, Indium antimonide (InSb) elements, and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) elements.
Hall Effect elements generate an output voltage proportional to a magnetic field. In contrast, magnetoresistance elements change resistance in proportion to a magnetic field. In a circuit, an electrical current can be directed through the magnetoresistance element, thereby generating a voltage output signal proportional to the magnetic field.
Magnetic field sensors, which use magnetic field sensing elements, are used in a variety of applications, including, but not limited to, a current sensor that senses a magnetic field generated by a current carried by a current-carrying conductor, a magnetic switch (also referred to herein as a proximity detector) that senses the proximity of a ferromagnetic or magnetic object, a rotation detector that senses passing ferromagnetic articles, for example, gear teeth, and a magnetic field sensor that senses a magnetic field density of a magnetic field. Particular magnetic field sensor arrangements are used as examples herein. However, the circuits and techniques described herein apply also to any magnetic field sensor.
It is known that Hall Effect elements exhibit an undesirable DC offset voltage. Techniques have been developed to reduce the DC offset voltage, while still allowing the Hall Effect element to sense a DC magnetic field. One such technique is commonly referred to as “chopping.” Chopping is a technique by which a Hall Effect element is driven in two or more different directions, and outputs are received at different output terminals as the Hall Effect element is differently driven. With chopping, offset voltages of the different driving arrangements tend to cancel toward zero.
However, the chopping tends to generate undesirable spectral components (i.e., frequency components in the frequency domain). The undesirable spectral components can be removed with filters.
Circuits that both chop a Hall element and that use one or more filters to remove undesirable spectral components is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/095,371, filed on Apr. 27, 2011, entitled “Circuits and Methods for Self-Calibrating or Self-Testing a Magnetic Field Sensor,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
While convention arrangements that use filters can effectively reduce the undesirable spectral components, it will be understood that the filters tend to reduce a bandwidth or a response time of the magnetic field sensors that use filters.
It would be desirable to provide a magnetic field sensor that uses a Hall Effect element in a chopping arrangement, and that can reduce undesirable spectral components generated by the chopping, but that does not reduce a bandwidth or response time of the magnetic field sensor.